Search For Sevenhttp://searchforseven.com
Finding perfectionSat, 17 Feb 2018 17:12:15 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.3https://i2.wp.com/searchforseven.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/logo.jpg?fit=32%2C32Search For Sevenhttp://searchforseven.com
3232140706456Integrityhttp://searchforseven.com/2018/02/17/integrity/
http://searchforseven.com/2018/02/17/integrity/#respondSat, 17 Feb 2018 17:06:34 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=2210Continue reading Integrity]]>I was flipping through my Personal Progress book on Sunday, and a particular “experience” (Integrity #3) really stuck out to me. I don’t know why, exactly. Usually, I think, “yeah, that one should be easy enough right now.” or “um, I should probably work on that one.” or something to that effect. But they don’t usually hit a chord. This one did. So I’ve been working on it this morning. Instead of writing it down in my journal, the thought came to me that I should put it on the blog. It says share your experience, so I guess this is a good way to share it.

The funny thing is, when the instructions said to think about a time that I showed integrity and it was not easy or popular, a story instantly came to mind. An incident that was close to 20 years ago. I don’t know what recalled that particular instant, but it hasn’t left me since.

I was in 8th grade. We had this really boring text book in my Leadership class. The whole class hated it. One day, the teacher stepped out of the room, probably to go make copies or something. The entire class hid their textbooks. The teacher was pretty flabbergasted when she came back in. I don’t know what made her do it, but she looked right at me and said, “Keira, where are the books.” Althought I didn’t stand up and tell the kids no (they were reaaaallllly boring books), I couldn’t tell a bold-face lie. So I caved and told her where they were. I thought for sure, the whole class would be mad at me, but actually no one was. Maybe because they knew I couldn’t like. I don’t know. But we didn’t have to use those books again. And the class didn’t really care. I don’t know why it’s so ingrained into my memory, but it is. I don’t remember a single other thing from that class, but I remember the time I didn’t lie.

It’s no surprise that the first example the Young Women Personal Progress book gives is that of the Savior. Even when He realized exactly how hard it was to comply with the atonement, He did it. He suffered for our sins. If He hadn’t had integrity, there would be no plan.

Joseph showed integrity with Potiphar’s wife. To me, that’s not just showing integrity in the obvious way. Not committing adultery is a definite commandment. But honoring the wishes of an employer and getting out of a potentially bad situation (as well as making a bad situation good without complaint) are also ways to show integrity.

Esther is one of my favorite examples of integrity. I don’t know if I’d have the courage to put my life on the line to stand up for others. I mean, I guess you’d just have to do it. I like that she fasts and prays before she does what she does. In this kind of situation, putting God at the central part of the plan, remembering that all things are possible through him, is the real example of integrity in Esther’s story.

Job never denied the Lord, when times got hard. I think that everyone has those moments when they wonder, with everything going on in their lives, if God loves them, if He really exists, and if He can help. But at the end of it, if you’ve kept the faith, kept believing, then you can show integrity, too. Just like Job.

Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were willing to die for their faith, but to me the true sign of integrity is something I heard in a conference talk once. I’ve never been able to find it since. In the talk the speaker said once that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego were great examples of the “But If Not” principle. Not only do they stand up for their beliefs, knowing that Christ CAN save them, they know that doesn’t mean Christ WILL save them. The true act of faith, and integrity, is remembering that God’s ways are better than our own plans. They know that they can be saved, but if they are not saved, they know that they will be with their Savior. “But if Not.” Integrity is trusting God. Submitting to His will.

Hyrum showed integrity for delighting in truth and finding what is right.

Paul showed integrity for changing his ways when he knew better. For adimitting he was wrong. That’s a big one!

Joseph Smith showed integrity by never denying what he had seen. “I knew it and I knew that God knew it.” How easy it would have been for him to just give into the world, “yeah, guys, you caught me.” But just because something is easy with Man doesn’t mean its easy with God. Giving into what the world wanted him to do would have eternal repercussions. It would NOT have been worth it. Easy and worth it are definitely not the same thing.

]]>http://searchforseven.com/2018/02/17/integrity/feed/02210Rainbow Baby Showerhttp://searchforseven.com/2018/02/02/rainbow-baby-shower/
http://searchforseven.com/2018/02/02/rainbow-baby-shower/#respondFri, 02 Feb 2018 08:33:28 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=2203Continue reading Rainbow Baby Shower]]>In case you didn’t know, my sister lost her first baby a few years ago. Adella would be turning 5 this year. When my sister had her second daughter, we threw her a rainbow-themed baby shower. Here are some pics from her shower.

Baby Shower favors: soft salts. We made a huge batch, divvied them up into these snack bowls, and used double-sided tape to add favor labels (now available on my etsy store).

The nice thing about this baby letter-guessing game is that it makes a gorgeous room accent. Inside each of these bags is a baby item that starts with that letter.

R=rattle

A= applesauce

I= infant Tylenol

N= night light

B= bottle

O= outfit

W= washcloth

B= bib

A= afghan

B= book

Y= yarn

yeah, infant Tylenol is a stretch, but can you think of something that starts with an I? Besides, it’s more of a challenge, right?

We used these clothing items underneath the bags. I didn’t get a picture of them together. My mom made the first 3 things – the red dress, the crocheted sweater, and the little skirt. I found the other 3 on a great sale at Walmart ($1/piece!)

I made up these game pamphlets and a keepsake page for my sister to keep in her baby book.

Rainbow napkins equal party win

My sister is allergic to corn, so she got a cupcake without a rainbow and everyone else got frosting made without powdered sugar. It was a pain, honestly.

We served Hot Chocolate and had a hot chocolate bar with something in every color. The blue element is home-made marshmallows (using tapioca starch for powdered sugar/corn starch. These were de-LISH-ous. I’ve made them multiple times since. The shape is actually a pumpkin, but I think it passes as a cloud. What do you think? The dish on the side is mint syrup (For the green element). We had raspberry jam for red, orange was made with pumpkin spice, caramel counted for yellow, and huckleberry syrup was our purple element.

these are our St. Patrick’s Day decorations. They worked pretty well as decor around the room. The white clouds from balloons just added that much more charm.

rainbow food table. There was a layered salad in the bowl, and taco bites went on the platter. I honestly don’t remember what went in the glass pan.

I made the rock candy myself. I need to improve, that’s for sure. My crystals didn’t get as big, and the color wasn’t as bold as those you can find in the stores. They tasted okay, though.

We played the candy game, where you are given a phrase tied to babies and pregnancy, and you have to guess what candy is tied to it. I had an added challenge (to take more time), guests had to play memory with numbered cards on a poster board. Guests took turns calling out numbers, and I flipped the cards over. When they made a match, they had a chance to guess what that phrase had to do with the candy. This is what we came up with:

the daddy

big hunk

choosing baby’s name

whatchamcacallit

girl’s name

baby ruth

twins

mike n ike

contractions

now n later

hospital address

5th avenue

driving to the hospital

rocky road

maternity nurses

sweet tarts

hospital bills

100 grand

triplets

3 musketeers

11 lb babies

whoppers

chunky baby

rollos

time alone

zero

nap time

Fast break

baby giggles

snickers

diapers, formula, medicine

payday

lullabyes

symphony

teething

crunch

new babies

treasures

ultrasound

look

preemies

runts

collic

cry babies

postpartum tears

gushers

loves for baby

kisses

christmas baby

junior mints

loaded diapers

toosie rolls

mommy brain

airheads

doctor

life savers

Baby bump

mounds

I’m sure you could play with the candy on one card and the baby phrase on the other. It’d be shorter. Up to you.

we also had the guests paint peg people for baby to play with when she gets a little older. I think they turned out pretty cute! I painted the guy in the suit in the back, and the orange girl and Harry Potter with the extra pegs.

In case you didn’t hear, my Church called a new President. We really believe that God has given us a new prophet after the death of President Thomas S. Monson. It wasn’t any surprise to us that it is now President Russel M. Nelson as the prophet of God. A friend summed it up nicely when he said, “Only in the Mormon church would they replace a 90-year-old man with a 93-year-old man!” But unlike a popularity contest or a democratic vote, there’s a system set up as to whom our next prophet will be. There’s still room for change in that system, but I highly doubt we’ll ever see it deviate. Our church is quite proud of being a “house of order.”

I’m sure everyone has or will have their own experience about our new Prophet and that he is called from God (if not, I invite you to), but I wanted to write my own witness down in a place I would easily come back to and re-read. There was both a special virtual meeting for the members and a press conference to announce who would be our new Prophet/President. I actually watched it 15 minutes behind everyone else because I didn’t keep track of the time (I wish that wasn’t as common as it is. Just glad watching it right behind everyone was even possible). The whole member portion of the broadcast was fine, not really a surprise, but still interesting. It was nice hearing each of the called First Presidency address us. Elder Oaks has always been a powerhouse, and Elder Eyering is my daughter’s favorite. I loved President Uchdorf, too – who is now back in the quorum of the 12, just like when we rearrange a Young Women Presidency – but it seemed like he was everyone’s favorite and was utilized a LOT, so I’m excited to see a change. He will do well in his new assignment. As far as my previous feelings toward President Nelson: He trained the man who saved my grandfather’s life, so there’s that. But that’s not a testimony. That’s knowing he’s a world-renown surgeon and a pioneer in his field.

At the broadcast their messages to the members were all nice. I’m happy that Elder Oaks (President Oaks) let us all know that even though President Nelson is old, he’s still in excellent health and very active. Once again, he’s 93!

Then, there was a news conference where they took a few questions. It was such a juxtaposition to see the things interesting to the Saints and the things interesting to the news media. They wanted to know if his opinion was any different than the previous prophet. Members of the Church were not surprised to be reminded that it’s not President Nelson’s opinion that matters. It’s God’s opinion. Which is the same with President Nelson as it was for President Monson. I loved watching President Nelson put people first over and over in his answers. He talked about how he knew the newscasters before he ever answered their questions. Sometimes he’d even forget the questions. Knowing and Loving the people is important to him. President Monson always said, “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved.” President Nelson exemplified this during the press conference.

One of the questions (an early question. No surprise. It’s what the Media has focused on) asked how President Nelson felt about LGBTQ agendas. When President Nelson’s response was that they are children of God and paused to let that soak in, my heart soared. I was thinking to myself, “of course that’s the question. But the answer wont change because it’s not his answer, it’s Gods.” And then hearing a reminder that everyone is a child of God… That is all it took for my testimony to find it’s roots. Not only did President Nelson zoom the focus back out to everyone – everyone is a child of God – but isn’t that always the answer? So many problems become minuscule when you remember that the person in question is important to Heavenly Father. The thing about testimonies is that it’s not just about the logical. My testimony of the newest prophet of God isn’t just coming from my head. That’s the amazing thing about testimonies. Once the roots settle, your whole body, mind, and soul just … know. I know that President Nelson is a prophet of our church, my church. I know that he was called of God. He’s not just some old guy giving old-world advice. He is our Prophet. He is called of God. I look forward to a continued re-training of my thoughts as I hear his messages at conference. Thinking of him as more than a surgeon, but as the man that God has called to lead his church. He is just what God can use right now. He’s clear and concise and simple.

But mostly, He’s my Prophet.

]]>http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/20/hes-my-prophet/feed/02194First Freebie!http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/19/first-freebie/
http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/19/first-freebie/#respondFri, 19 Jan 2018 16:48:47 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=2182Continue reading First Freebie!]]>Our Young Women Presidency decided we wanted to give our girls a little extra challenge this year. We knew they needed a nudge to strengthen habits. And with the Olympics coming, we decided an Olympic theme would be an appropriate challenge theme. We didn’t want it to be easy. Habits don’t just happen. But since it’s not easy, there are only 3 goals. The first one is to read their scriptures for 120 CONSECUTIVE days. The Second goal is to say their prayers for 120 consecutive days. We also set the goal to attend the temple 8 times with their own names. Our ward is pretty close to the temple, so it shouldn’t be too hard of a goal. If you don’t live so close to a temple, you could just make it a goal to find 8 names that need temple work.

Anyway, I decided, since it’s pretty specific, I’d just make it a freebie instead of loading it up on Etsy.

You can buy them at templesquares.com. I’ll add a little note that these are NOT the bracelets we ordered, but when they got here, we just went with it. They come with this little scripture charm on the leaf, but we took them off because they’ll earn the charm when they complete the goal.

They will also get a charm for saying their prayers, but we didn’t want that one to be earned until Girls’ Camp (they can complete it now, but we will have an award ceremony at GC to hand them out there). Our Girls’ Camp Director is ordering those, so I don’t have them.

We ordered our temple charms from Doodle Beads, and I love them! If you need a lot (like we did), I’d recommend you contact them (like I did). They were great to work with, prompt, and very approachable.

I’m sure you could come up with any goal prizes you wanted to. You could award charms or make it so if they earn all 3 goals, they get one big prize. In fact, I will be making a few bracelets of my own soon (clerical error, I have charms we aren’t using), and they’d make great prizes. I’ll post the Etsy link when I get that far.

Anyway, click on the picture and it should take you to google drive, if I did it right, and you can download the page there. If I did it wrong, lemme know. We’ll fix it.

]]>http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/19/first-freebie/feed/02182Charlie Sock Monkey Baby showerhttp://searchforseven.com/2018/01/14/charlie-sock-monkey-baby-shower/
http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/14/charlie-sock-monkey-baby-shower/#respondSun, 14 Jan 2018 00:20:04 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=2172Continue reading Charlie Sock Monkey Baby shower]]>Here are some pictures of my newest Etsy project from when I hosted a sock monkey baby shower for my little nephew. This is probably when I first realized that maybe what I was previously just playing with could actually be worth something. One of the guests told me it was the most Pinterest-worthy baby shower she’d ever attended. That filled up my brag-jar right away!

When the guests enter, this table is waiting for them. There are raindrops for guests to write a nice word or two for the mother-to-be, name tags that say who they are and how they know the baby. There’s a coloring page off the internet (sorry, don’t remember where I got it. I just googled it, feel free to do the same) for the little guests, a jar full of baby socks we had everyone guess how many socks it had, and yarn we used all over the room because not only did it add color, but it tied everything together. You know, because sock monkeys are made of yarn. The folded papers have all the portions of the games that guests will need to write. There’s a game where guests need a letter, so the Bananagrams game is there for them to draw a letter. It’s fittingly… a banana. Each of the bags has a baby item in it. I wish I could remember what I included, but I did a lot of google searching for that, too.

I know, bad luck to open an umbrella inside, but it was so cute hanging these raindrops from it. I wish we could have hung it from the ceiling. Not bad enough to stick tacks into a place that’s not my own, though.

I made this quilt just like one I made for my niece (hers was an owl), the back was red, orange, brown, green and blue stripes, no kidding. How lucky that I found such fitting fabric!

Aside from the casual gathering and visiting, my favorite part of baby showers is most definitely the food! At the beginning of the food table, we placed all the utensils we’d need for the meal. Straws in varying shades of brown and red, utensils all bundled together with the napkin rings, and plates (Walmart. Once again, lucky purchase. The colors are perfect).

We got the sock monkeys from Oriental Trading company.

The baby-momma said the only thing she really craved during her pregnancy was chicken, so we had little chicken salad bites.

and chicken pinwheels (sockful of monkeys is also from Oriental Trading)

we also had trail mix (Jungle mix), banana bread, nachos, salad, and…

these cheesecakes. Seriously, guys, these cheesecakes were amazing! I’ll have to post my own version of this recipe. I tweaked it to be corn-free. Seriously, guys. It was so rich! It tasted sooo good! you could only eat about one at a time (which is fine), but ohhh, while it lasted!

At the end of the shower, each guest got a cookie mix with M&M’s in it. We typed the instructions on the top. We had a few jars left over at the end. My family did not complain the random cookies for as long as the extras lasted.

Signs made by me. Monkey from Oriental Trading, again, but I’ve seen him elswhere, too.

So, what’d ya think? Like I said, this shower really gave me the confidence to think I could maybe design stuff to sell on Etsy. It’s there, now, if you’re interested. I should sound all cool and “I-got-this,” and say I’ve always known I was this good, but… sometimes it takes a push. If any readers buy the kit and use it for their own party, I’d love to see the pictures!

]]>http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/14/charlie-sock-monkey-baby-shower/feed/02172Because I Think Better in Printhttp://searchforseven.com/2018/01/09/because-i-think-better-in-print/
http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/09/because-i-think-better-in-print/#respondTue, 09 Jan 2018 23:35:01 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=2170Continue reading Because I Think Better in Print]]>Okay, so I’ve been trying to decide how this blog fits into my life, {nothing new} and I’ve been doing the new-year thinking, but I’m not getting anywhere in the thinking department. So I”m going to write it down. All real-style and such. How’s that for the first post on my blog in over a year? I always envision some grand insight coming up. But this is me. Glorifying my imperfections. If I wait to have it all thought out, it won’t happen. As evidenced by the past year.

I know I want to revisit what health is. I”m sick of being sick. I don’t think I’m going to find some magic cure, but I’d love to re-evaluate what I discovered a few years ago when I was trying to somehow unlock the mysteries of my body and the lack of pregnancy therein. Clearly, it didn’t work then, either. Too bad we can’t learn our way into better health. But there is still definitely something to learn in the process, and it sounds like a good place to start.

I know I want to grow my Etsy store and a blog can help. I have so many previously-made projects that have not uploaded yet. All it takes is time. They don’t make any profit sitting on my hard drive.

I know I want to finish some of the projects I’ve started in the past. Like the Family Home Evening Lessons. And Homeschool lessons. And … Pinterest projects. Am I silly for actually wanting to DO my pinterest projects?

I know I want to de-junk my house (I’m sure everyone feels that way. I have too much stuff).

I want to fix up this house (But I lack the strength and Ranger is lacking the time to do it). It’s been at a stand-still lately.

I want to make friends. Like seriously. I’m kinda a little afraid of people. It’s pretty sad. I used to love people. And then I shied away from people while I grieved all of my losses. And then I got hurt by some family pretty badly and it made me afraid of what I say and to whom I say it. And then we moved here and I didn’t HAVE to see people (I love country life) and lately, I’ve been so sick this past year, It’s been easy to just stay home. But I’m not getting any better and I’m sick of letting that stop me.

What does that mean for this blog? No idea. HOpefully I’ll be less surprised than you will.

Pumpkin fruit leather is a great harvest treat. It’s nice and fall-y flavor. I don’t know if I’d care for it much in the spring, but it’s perfect in the cold months.

For a information on dehydrators or drying methods, check the classic apple recipe.

Also note, these recipes are the right size for my dehydrator trays. You may need to adjust the amounts for your own individual trays/drying methods.

Now, on a more specific note, classic apple leather is my daughter’s favorite. She likes things plain and simple. I personally think it’s kind of… boring. But if your kid (or you) like boring, you may love this leather.

The recipe? Just 1 1/2 c of applesauce. Smooth it onto the tray in as even layer as you can get. The smoother you can get the applesauce, the better it will dry. I plan on investing in a silicone bench scraper, though I don’t own one yet. I think it’d be perfect for getting the layer smooth. My spatula doesn’t quite cut it for me. It works for now, but I’d like an upgrade.

I don’t have any fruit leather trays, and I am on the fence about getting them. Sometimes the food just sticks to them. Instead, I take a square section of parchment paper, place it over the dehydrator tray to mark where I need to make a few cuts to fit over the center vent and then mark the edge of the tray, as well. (I just set it on the tray and rub my fingers over the tray and let a crease form, then I use that as a guide to cut. It’s an imperfect art, but I like the results. I also don’t cut the center all the way off, but make lots of slits, so that if anything is runny, it has less of a chance of falling through the layers. That’s a mess.

Classic Apple Fruit Leather

Cuisine: snack

Author: Keira @ Searchforseven.com

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 8 hours

Total time: 8 hours 10 mins

Ingredients

1 1/2 c applesauce

Other tools:

dehydrator

Parchment paper (or leather trays)

spatula or bench scraper

Instructions

Spread the applesauce evenly on the dehydrator tray lined with parchment paper

Turn dehydrator on and let it do it’s work for 6-8 hours. I start the dehydrator in the morning and turn it off in the afternoon or evening, depending on when it’s done.

Cut the leather into desired strips or sections. somewhere between 5-15 sections is ideal.

]]>http://searchforseven.com/2018/01/03/pumpkin-apple-fruit-leather/feed/01638Happy 2nd, Adellahttp://searchforseven.com/2015/04/22/happy-2nd-adella/
http://searchforseven.com/2015/04/22/happy-2nd-adella/#respondWed, 22 Apr 2015 16:29:28 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=1669Continue reading Happy 2nd, Adella]]>Two years ago, today, I was waiting outside a door for my sister to give birth to her stillborn daughter. Her angel daughter. She had found out just a few days before that her baby wouldn’t be growing older in this life. She had graduated to the Celestial Kingdom. It’s funny how much and how little can change in 2 years. Adella now has a sister who is growing leaps and bounds and screams and giggles and scowls. But not much else has changed.

I just wanted to share one memory, since I didn’t blog anything while all of this was happening. It’s reserved for my journal.

My siblings and I stepped into the hall for what we thought was a routine check to monitor progress. We weren’t planning on staying for the hard part, since that’s something we figured she’d want to do without a whole gaggle of people. But the routine check dragged on. At one point, the nurse came out and looked so sad and angry and urgent. All of her emotions must have been clashing inside of her. I don’t expect nurses have to deal much with the sad side of delivery, and I think it hit that nurse. Plus, things had escalated a little too quickly, and I don’t think the nurse had time to prepare. Since we had no idea what was happening, we waited in the hall. After a while, we were pretty sure that this was the part we weren’t planning on being here for, but it didn’t seem right to leave, so we just kept waiting. I am grateful for my perspective from the floor in the hall. I got to see the nurses. The hospital has this signal where they tape a picture of a flower to the door to notify the nurses of the situation without drawing attention to the mother and her pain. I will never forget the face of one nurse, as she left the supply closet and saw the door. You could see how much she ached for my sister, even though she didn’t know who she was. I’m glad the hospital had such a signal in place. And I’m glad that instead of having to deliver a still baby in the labor and delivery, they have these sad deliveries in the recovery section. It’s quiet there. No celebrations for all the mothers who get to take their baby home.

I’ll also remember a head full of blonde hair and paper-thin skin. She was real. She had a body. And now she is waiting in heaven.

Happy 2nd birthday, Adella. Do a couple of twirls for me.

Love, Aunt Keira

]]>http://searchforseven.com/2015/04/22/happy-2nd-adella/feed/01669random thought of the dayhttp://searchforseven.com/2015/03/04/1662/
http://searchforseven.com/2015/03/04/1662/#respondWed, 04 Mar 2015 12:52:42 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=1662Continue reading random thought of the day]]>So I’ve been killing time watching Chopped and I realized how much a mom’s job is like being a contestant on Chopped. You open the fridge and see what is in there to use for dinner. You have a time limit because your family will start a revolt. You present your dish before a panel of judges with picky (distinguished?) tastes. And if you don’t make it look good, you better believe they’re not going to touch it.
]]>http://searchforseven.com/2015/03/04/1662/feed/01662Classic Apple Fruit Leatherhttp://searchforseven.com/2015/01/19/classic-apple-fruit-leather/
http://searchforseven.com/2015/01/19/classic-apple-fruit-leather/#respondMon, 19 Jan 2015 09:30:30 +0000http://searchforseven.com/?p=1628Continue reading Classic Apple Fruit Leather]]>

Classic apple fruit leather is probably the easiest fruit leather you’ll ever make. It’s a good place to start if you’ve never made leather before. The reason it’s so easy? It’s simply applesauce poured into your dehydrators.

Since this leather is so easy, I’ll take the time here to discuss dehydrators. I have a Nesco dehydrator. I wish it were square. My grandmother’s was rectangular. My mother assures me that round is the best drying power because of the hole in the middle, and an even distribution from that hole. I don’t know. I still wish it were square like this one, but she’s probably right. There’s just no good way to keep a pie-shaped fruit leather in nice rectangular roll. My mom says I’m being silly. Isn’t dried-thoroughly better than cut-square? She’s probably right. But in the meantime, I usually just store mine in pie wedges. I bet if I sliced them a bit thinner, my kiddo would eat them better, because believe it or not, a whole pie shape is a lot of fruit to swallow. She’d probably eat them better if instead of dividing the dry fruit-leather pie into 5 sections, I divided it into 15 sections.

My dehydrator says to dry fruits at 135º. The internet says to make it 140º. Following either instruction will leave me with something rubbery and very undesirable. It dries the outside too quickly and leaves the centers still gooey and moisture-laden. Moisture means mold and spoilage. Bad news. I dried my leather between 115 and 125º, depending on the thickness. It actually took less time to dry at that temperature, because the dry was more thorough. It didn’t have to fight a hard crust to get to the moisture.

That brings up another point… Most ovens don’t go below 170°. I’ve never made fruit leather in an oven. I have heard it can be done, but I don’t know what happens to shelf-life. From what I can understand from the process, it will either shorten self-life greatly or it will give you a tough hart-to-chew product. The internet is full of how to dehydrate in an oven. Most say cook at 175º for 2-4 hours, checking after 1 hour. I think the oven is good in a pinch, but you really should consider a dehydrator if you like the idea of homemade fruit leather. It will give you safer results.

Also note, these recipes are the right size for my dehydrator trays. You may need to adjust the amounts for your own individual trays/drying methods.

Now, on a more specific note, classic apple leather is my daughter’s favorite. She likes things plain and simple. I personally think it’s kind of… boring. But if your kid (or you) like boring, you may love this leather.

The recipe? Just 1 1/2 c of applesauce. Smooth it onto the tray in as even layer as you can get. The smoother you can get the applesauce, the better it will dry. I think it’d be perfect for getting the layer smooth. My spatula doesn’t quite cut it for me. It works for now, but I’d like an upgrade.

I don’t have any fruit leather trays, and I am on the fence about getting them. Sometimes the food just sticks to them. Instead, I take a square section of parchment paper, place it over the dehydrator tray to mark where I need to make a few cuts to fit over the center vent and then mark the edge of the tray, as well. (I just set it on the tray and rub my fingers over the tray and let a crease form, then I use that as a guide to cut. It’s an imperfect art, but I like the results. I also don’t cut the center all the way off, but make lots of slits, so that if anything is runny, it has less of a chance of falling through the layers. That’s a mess.

Classic Apple Fruit Leather

Cuisine: snack

Author: Keira @ Searchforseven.com

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 8 hours

Total time: 8 hours 10 mins

Ingredients

1 1/2 c applesauce

Other tools:

dehydrator

Parchment paper (or fruit-leather trays)

spatula or bench scraper

Instructions

Spread the applesauce evenly on the dehydrator tray lined with parchment paper

Turn dehydrator on and let it do it’s work for 6-8 hours. I start the dehydrator in the morning and turn it off in the afternoon or evening, depending on when it’s done.

Cut the leather into desired strips or sections. somewhere between 5-15 sections is ideal.